By Bruce Karnick

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‘25 years and one win over Cretin Derham Hall, that changes tonight’ were the whispers around Todd Field Wednesday night. It’s difficult to verify the actual number of times Hastings has faced CDH in the last 25+ years, what is not difficult is to understand just how the Raiders have dominated the Raiders. Yes, Cretin’s team name is also the Raiders, and no, it’s not like Major League soccer where every team is called “United”. With the poorly executed same name joke over, Cretin has dominated Hastings for more than two decades; that is officially known. Let it be known now that, for the remainder of the story, whenever Raiders is mentioned, it will only be referring to Hastings.

The Raiders (yes, Hastings) were ready to go on Wednesday night. Wait, Wednesday? A lot of the high school teams in the area play on the Wednesday night of Minnesota Educator Academy weekend, or as all of us know it as, MEA weekend. Head Coach Dana Strain looked confident in his team as they came out of the tunnel. The boys carried that confidence with them on to the field and the crowd was in for a treat.

Hastings kicked off with Rhys Fillion putting the ball out the back of the Cretin endzone. The Raiders defense stymied Cretin’s offense after a huge run on their first possession. On third and four, the Cretin quarterback stepped back to throw and fumbled the ball losing 13. During the punt, the ball was snapped over the punters head and the Raiders defense recovered the ball on the Cretin two.

Hastings’s offense came out and quickly established they were going to run the ball with two consecutive handoffs to Brendan Freiermuth. The first attempt gained very little but the second punched through giving Freiermuth his first rushing TD of the night. The point after touchdown attempt was no good.

On the ensuing kick, Cretin returned to their 25 and proceeded to methodically move down the field to score. 10 plays, 75 yards scoring on a one-yard run. The PAT was blocked by Stephen Reifenberger keeping the game tied 6-6.

The Raiders had a little trickery up their sleeve on their return. The ball went to deep man Payton Burow in the middle, he started to his left and Tom Kennedy came back his way. Burow made the handoff to Kennedy and the reverse was on! Kennedy returned the ball to the Hastings 46.

The first play from scrimmage, Rico Cooper was lined up on the right he explained what happened. “He just basically stood there and left me open. And if you leave me open, you know, I’m pretty good.”

Of course, Cooper flashed that ‘I’m messing with you, and I dare you to print that’ smile. His witty, over the top answer was amusing, and he’s right, he is a good player with good speed. But what really happened?

“It was just a total missed coverage,” explained quarterback Axel Arnold. “The corner came up, the safety came up, there was nobody within like 10 years of Rico because they all bit on the run.”

Cooper went 54 yards untouched for a one play drive resulting in a touchdown. The field goal unit came on and Cretin was offsides for the PAT giving Hastings an easier chance at a 2-point conversion. The pass attempt was no good and Hastings had the 12-6 lead.

Cretin came back with a one play drive of their own, a 78-yard pass where the Raiders had broken coverage. Cretin’s receiver got behind Danny Millner just far enough that Millner could not recover. He managed to get close to breaking up the pass but missed by under a yard.

Hastings had their first and only punt of the game on the next drive, a drive that was dramatically affected by a holding penalty on the kick return. Cooper had a monster return into Cretin territory that was called back to the 20 due to the hold.

With Cretin leading 1312, this looked like it could be the turning point of the game. CDH marched down the field again on nine play, 58-yard drive that was capped off by a 2-yard TD run. Cretin 20, Hastings 12.

This is where Hastings flipped the switch. The Raiders could have curled up in the fetal position, but they didn’t. Instead, they punched back with their own nine play, 82-yard drive capped off by Freiermuth’s second TD run of the game from the 12. Hastings went for the two-point conversion again, this time Arnold carried it across the goal stripe, typing the game at 20.

Cretin took possession and Hastings made a huge defensive stand. On the punt, Ben Clemens burst through the line blocking the kick and Luke Chorlton jumped on it at the Cretin 22. Aiden Doughty entered the game for some varsity time as the running back scoring from the 22 on the third play of the drive, giving Hastings the 27-20 lead.

With a minute left in the half, Cretin was trying desperately to knot the game up before heading to the locker room. Cretin’s QB stepped back to throw another bomb, but this time Freiermuth was there to defend with his other teammates. Freiermuth leapt, snagged the interception and returned it 75 yards for the pick six. Hastings went to the locker room at the half with a 34-20 lead.

Hastings opened the third quarter with a four play, 57yard drive that culminated with a 38-yard TD pass from Arnold to Jonathon Bezdicek. That extended their lead 41-20.

Cretin answered with a 10 play, 78-yard drive that was capped off by a 35-yard TD pass. 41-27 Hastings.

The Raiders were in control and did not panic. Hastings covered the onside kick attempt well with a great play by Clemmons, giving them a short field. The nine play, 47 yard drive ended with the connection that has been there all year, Arnold to Stephen Reifenberger for a 5-yard TD pass. Hastings extended the lead 48-27.

Cretin came back and scored on the ensuing possession to make it 48-34, but time was running out.

Hastings took the next possession and went 65 for another TD, Freiermuth scored his fourth of the day with a 21-yard run on the left. This is where the student section took over coaching for a moment. Chants of “We want Sammie!” erupted and Coach Strain called Fillion back off the field and called for Junior Samantha Williams.

Williams got in position, the snap… the spot… the historic kick… no good… The first known PAT attempt by a female player in Raider history was short and it didn’t matter, not to the coaches, the fans, or the players.

Nick Tuckner said it best in his broadcast on KDWA, “She is a Raider, that is all that matters. She’s not a girl, she’s a Raider.”

Williams walked off the field to a chorus of cheers from the entire Raider sidelines which continued when she kicked off. The kick was perfectly executed and caught Cretin off guard, netting them a negative return.

The final offensive series by Cretin saw a pass nearly intercepted by Stephen Reifenberger then another pass nearly intercepted by run stopping defensive lineman Sam Rumpza. Finally, The Raiders completed the interception with Stephen Reifenberger snagging it in the endzone. The touchback put the Raiders at the 20 and gave them a chance to run the victory formation.

The final, Hastings Raiders 54 – Cretin Derham Hall Raiders 34. The win secured the second seed in the Section 3AAAAA playoffs which means a first round bye for Hastings.

Arnold had a clean performance in the air completing 7/9 passes (78%) for 124 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 49 yards on six carries.

Freiermuth lead the way on the ground with 96 yards on 15 carries for a 6.40 average and three touchdowns.

Hastings had a total offensive production of 312 yards, 188 on the ground and 124 in the air. The defense set the Raiders up with many short fields to work with when it mattered and that makes it difficult to rack up yards, but much easier to rack up points and wins.

The Raider defense gave up 438 total yards, 221 rushing and 217 passing.

The final standings in the section are: Seed – School (Conference Record, Overall Record) #1 – St Thomas Academy (4-0, 8-0) #2 – Hastings (3-1, 6-2) #3 – Bloomington Kennedy (2-1, 4-4) #4 – Bloomington Jefferson (0-3, 1-7) #5 – Apple Valley (1-3,17) #6 – Two Rivers (0-4, 0-8) Hastings will host the winner of Two Rivers and Bloomington Kennedy on October 30 at 7:00 p.m.

A Raider win and they play again on November 5th at 7:00. Location to be determined pending the outcome of the STA game on Oct 30. This is where Raider fans hope that which ever team faces STA on October 30 can pull a miracle win out of their back pockets, but Arnold made it clear, they are not afraid to play the Cadets in the playoffs.

“The o-line was awesome, I think I was touched once today when I was passing the ball and you can’t ask for anything more than that,” explained Arnold, who’s shirt looked like it was fresh from the wash. “My pants are only dirty because I didn’t wash them from last week.”

After the good laugh there, Arnold pointed out the toughness and grit of this team, “We just played a really good football team. Cretin’s lines are just as big and physical as St. Thomas’s lines, and we controlled the game tonight. This is what we can do when we play our game.”

This mentality is a good sign for Hastings. As it was mentioned in the article after the STA game, Hastings has had moments where they have played the Cadets tough, but something always gets in their heads that STA is bigger, stronger, faster and better, and then the Raiders beat themselves. Perhaps the tide is changing?

We won’t know until the games are played on October 30, right here in Hastings at 7:00 p.m. Let’s pack the stands for these kids and cheer them on to victory! GO RAIDERS!

Brendan Freiermuth had another huge day for Hastings. Three rushing touchdowns, one 75-yard pick six, 96 yards on the ground and key blocks that gave the Raiders first downs to extend drives. Photo by Bruce Karnick